"Above approach"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On May 30, 2006, at 5:16 AM, Jim Parish wrote:

> In this morning's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there's an AP story on Sen.
> Harry Reid, who accepted a questionable gift from the Nevada Athletic
> Commission. Kathleen Clark, an expert on congressional ethics at
> Washington University in St. Louis, is quoted as saying, "I think he
> would want to be above approach even when it's from a state
> commission and not a private lobbyist."
>
> If it's a deliberate coinage - above being approached? - it strikes
> me as
> halfway clever, but there's a definite eggcornish flavor to it.

this one might conceivably have been intentional, but many of the
google webhits look inadvertent:

I must say that his stewardship of this as Executive Director in the
past almost three years now has just been above approach, and I would
like ...
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/topics/ forensics/events/dnasummit/trans-4.html

When I went to High School we assumed our text books were scholarly
works that were above approach. We believed the facts were true as
written and that the ...
warchild.blog-city.com/index.cfm?m=3&y=2005

As a person who has spent a life time in the construction business, I
can assure you that Midwest's work was above approach. They did an
excellent job of ...
www.midwestmaintenance.com/huron.htm

... review of Queensland's raw sugar marketing, logistics and sugar
analysis systems was needed to ensure that its commercial practices
are above approach.
www.ifap.org/wabcg/wabcgnewsapr99.html

I know I sin everyday but i strive to live in a manner that is above
approach. Meaning no one can come and questioon me aout the way I
live b/c I will live ...
www.xanga.com/be_JOy_ful?nextdate=9%2F13%2F2004+17%3A8%
3A46.207&direction=n

The jewish lobby and the jewish community and their actions /
motives, etc cannot be above approach....while everything else is
free to discuss.
forums.speakupwny.com/archive/index.php/t-2654.html

eliminating dupes, i got the following webhits, almost all relevant,
for "X above approach" :
   X = be, is (31 each), are (14), was (6), were (4), been (2)
no hits for X = being, am.

looks eggcornish to me.  (note, by the way, that googling on <eggcorn
oak> yields only a small handful of actual examples of the eggcorn
"eggcorn" -- mostly discussions of the eggcorn phenomenon and lots of
sequences of the words "egg" and "corn" (in recipes, for example).)

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

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